Sunday, September 30, 2012

Once, a woman who saw Queen Noor and King Hussein in Moscow in the Bol'shoy Ballet Theater, told me that she never laid her eyes on someone so breathtakingly regal and beautiful. My own husband, who is Jordanian and remembers Queen Noor from his childhood, still believes that she is one of the most stunning women on the planet.

Barre me, of course.

Lisa Halaby was born into a prominent American family - her dad was a CEO of PanAm and head of FAA.

He hobnobbed with Prez Truman, JFK, LBJ and Saudi King Ibn Saud so Lisa was not a stranger to a world of politics from the very young age.

Interestingly enough, her granddad moved to Dallas (Go Mavs!) from Syria in 19 century and knew fabulous Stanley Marcus of Neiman Marcus (my fave store in the universe!). Lisa's farther was actually born in Dallas.

Future Queen Noor went to schools in Washington, D.C. and in NYC. Her university of choice was Ivy League's Princeton, where she majored in architecture.

Lisa Halaby worked in Jordan, helping to establish Royal Jordanian Airlines, when King Hussein met her and they both fell in love.

She converted to Islam, chose the name of Noor (Ray of Light) and became King Hussein's last wife. In addition to 3 step kids from King's previous marriage - future wife of Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai, Princess Haya among them - the couple also had 4 children of their own.

Widowed Queen Noor lives mostly in London now, i think and runs a gamut of various charities.

She came to Dubai a few years back and looked gorgeous.

Queen Noor dresses beautifully and appropriately for her status and keeps her hair big! Her Texan grandma would be proud!

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I met her personally in Leaders in Dubai 2006 when I used to work for this conference & she came to speak there along with Colin Powell etc. She is intelligent, elegant, down to earth & informative humanitarian. Her grace and beauty brought another dimension to the conference. She was so down to earth that she gave me a hug just because she saw me so tired working & boost my self confidence.